Over 300 farmers including those from neighbouring Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram took part in the nation-wide Kisan Mukti Yatra that arrived in Chennai on Tuesday. Owing to the venue change at the last moment, many farmers could not participate in the event.
The yatra began in July with the twin demands of guaranteed remunerative prices for all crops and freedom from debt for the cultivators.
“By freedom from debt we mean to completely eradicate the need to take loans and make the farmers financially strong. Not just waiving off existing loans,” said K. Balakrishnan, member, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) organising the yatra.
The event initially planned at the Loyola College, was shifted to SBOA Junior College, Anna Nagar.
V.M.Singh, AIKSCC convenor said that the Prime Minister Modi had promised loan waiver to the Uttar Pradesh farmers during the election campaign.
"But he should announce a loan waiver package for the entire country. The farmers of the State had paid hundreds of crores as insurance premium during 2016-17 but had not got thebenefits,” he said.
Ryots invited to Delhi
Raju Shetty, MP from Maharashtra and leader of the Kisan Mukti Yatra, said that the Modi government did not care for the farmers. “Even when Tamil Nadu farmers have been protesting for more than 40 days in New Delhi, no one from the government came to meet them and discuss their demands,” he said. He invited the State farmers to to join the mega-rally of farmers in New Delhi on November 20..
Yogendra Yadav, leader,Swaraj India and working group member of AIKSCC, said that the farmers were betrayed in three ways by the governments, by the markets and by the society.
The South India leg of the Kisan Mukti Yatra started on September 16 2017 in Hyderabad.
On September 20, the Yatra would cover Madurai, Vedasandur and Erode. It is scheduled to end in Bangalore on September 23.
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